Fans of Black Ops have something to be very happy about. The latest map pack titled “Rezurrection” will be coming to the Xbox 360 followed by PC and PlayStation 3 later. Sadly these maps will not be multiplayer maps though.

You get a new map level called “Moon” along with four re-mastered zombie maps: “Nacht der Üntoten,” “Verrückt,” “Shi No Numa” and “Der Riese.” They should be released on August 23rd for the XBox, with PS3 and PC following later.

Sports fans will now have a special treat on the Xbox. Microsoft has confirmed plans to launch an updated version of the ESPN service on Xbox Live on Aug. 25. One of the most interesting new features is a split-screen view for watching two games at once.

The pdate coincides with the college football season. Other new features include a mini guide at the bottom of the screen, and the ESPN “BottomLine” news and score ticker that we all know and love. ESPN on Xbox 360 is free to Xbox Live Gold members who connect through participating broadband providers.

Redbox has announced that it will add video game rentals to an additional 5,000 kiosks starting August 1st. The company announced last month that game titles for the Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation and Nintendo Wii would be added to 16,000 more redbox kiosks by the end of June, and the total after this next round of additions will approach 27,000.

Redbox owns and operates about 33,000 rental kiosks around the country, and the company did not indicate if or when video games might be added to the remaining 6,000 kiosks that will not have them. All games carried in redbox kiosks are $2 per night.

The Xbox 360 Media Remote has been announced. Media playback controls include all of the usual like play/pause, skip forward, fast forward, skip back, fast back, and display to control DVD, CD, or streamed media.

As far as TV controls, there’s power on/off, volume up/down, mute and TV input. So it’s pretty much your standard remote with some XBox flare. The menu navigation controls include A, B, X, Y buttons, D-pad navigation, back and select. It will be available for $19.99 in early November.

Xbox 360 users will be glad to hear that the Avatar Kinect is now available as a free download from the Kinect Fun Labs section on Xbox Live Marketplace. This comes two days earlier than expected. If you have the console and a kinect, the app lets you control your avatars over the motion-sensing add-on, including facial expressions and body movements.

You can even produce your own avatar TV shows and chat between friends online. The app includes 24 virtual environments within which up to eight avatars can interact.

Mad Catz, makers of all kinds of third party gaming peripherals and accessories, has just announced some new Gears of War 3 gear with some licensed GoW3 audio devices for the Microsoft Xbox 360. They intend to ship them in time for the game’s launch later this year.

They are available for pre-order now. There is the Throat Communicator, the Performance Stereo Gaming Headset and the Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound Headset for $29.99, $99.99 and $179.99. You gotta have the gear for Gears Of War.

We’re all eagerly awaiting the release of the new Batman game Arkham City on October 21st. Hardcore fans will want this collectors edition which includes a whole bunch of special extras, like a custom Batman statue, collectible art book, early DLC access, the Batman: Arkham City soundtrack, the DC Universe animated original movie Batman: Gotham Knight and four collectible cards.

There’s also the game of course, which looks awesome and is sure to provide many hours of play. It will be available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in October 2011.

We know that Microsoft is currently working on building Xbox LIVE support into Windows 8, but it looks like the company could also be building in support for Xbox 360 games on the PC. Microsoft has already confirmed that the company plans to build Xbox LIVE into the PC and into Windows 8, but the latest rumor is that Xbox 360 games will be playable on Windows 8 PCs.

The rumors may be true if references to the Xbox 360 in Windows 8 are anything to go by. Italian site win8italia has discovered several strings that mention the Xbox 360 system inside the Windows 8 kernel. “XBOX_360_SYSTEM_CRASH” and “XBOX_360_SYSTEM_CRASH_RESERVED” are present in ntoskrnl.exe, part of the Windows NT kernel. The strings hint at much tighter integration between Xbox 360 systems and Windows 8.

If you have an Xbox 360, but not much space in your room, check out Nyko’s Zoom for Kinect. It’s a clip on device that allows players to stand closer to the console, reducing the amount of space needed to play games.

Nyko now has a firm ship date and expects it in stores on August 23. The device snaps over the Kinect’s sensor and refocuses the Xbox 360 motion controller’s cameras to a closer distance. It requires no extra power. Now players can stand up to 40 percent closer to the console.

Here’s something that Star wars fans will love. It looks like Microsoft is prepping a limited edition R2-D2 Xbox 360 console with Kinect sensor that will launch with the forthcoming Kinect Star Wars.

The machine will likely not be droid shaped, but it will be in a blue and white paint job as well as the Kinect sensor itself. You are going to want to trade in your old XBox for this one for sure.

The Kinect for the Xbox 360 is a hit and opens possibilities up in gaming that weren’t there before. So it is only natural that Sony would want their own version. Sony’s next Playstation 4 console could have full-body motion tracking according to Digitimes.

Sony has already confirmed that a new Playstation 4 is in development. Launch of the new Sony Playstation 4 is expected in 2012 according to Taiwan-based component makers. We can’t wait to see what else the console has to offer.

Calibur11 and Epic Games have a special treat for Gears of War fans. This exclusive Gears of War 3 Vault looks awesome. It will arrive in September when the game ships. This interactive case for the Xbox 360 Slim features a high-definition Bleed-Out finish, a cradle for your controller and an LED Crimson Omen which glows red when a player is downed. How cool is that?

With your purchase, you also have a chance to win a life-size “Gears of War” COG armor suit replica with the Calibur11 logo. This vault will be available at Best Buy store locations and other major online retailers in September for $89.99.

Sony and Nintendo have embraced 3D, but Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has yet to actively support it. Xbox senior product manager David Dennis says that the company is taking a wait and see approach and you can’t really blame them.

He says that Microsoft will not implement 3D in the 360 until 3D proves its staying power and gamers demand it.

Try as you might, you just can’t escape advertising. Well, if you have a Kinect, you will soon be able to make full use of both voice and motion commands to interact with ads. I can tell, you are thrilled at the prospect. NUads will apparently be on the Xbox 360 dashboard or embedded in games and other content.

Soon you’ll be able to issue voice commands to request more information about products via email or text messages and advertisers will be able to prompt you to say ‘Xbox Near Me’ and a map to the nearest retailer will be sent to your phone. You’ll also be able to do things like vote for your favorite brands / products using motion control.

Microsoft is planning another hardware update for the Xbox 360. This new update is all under the hood and won’t affect the look of the machine very much if at all. New Xbox 360 slim consoles will come with a new System on a Chip that will put the CPU, GPU, system memory and I/O logic all on the same piece of silicon.

This should make the console quieter, allow it to have an even smaller power pack and also generate less heat. It will actually be cheaper to manufacture than the old multi-chip system, so Microsoft will make more profit on each console sold.